Word: salesman
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
AMONG earnest car shoppers in many cities and towns throughout the U.S. last week were TIME correspondents, doing first-hand research on the battle of wits between salesman and buyer for this week's cover story on Ford Dealer Jim Moran (see BUSINESS). Researcher Piri Halasz roamed through showrooms in New York City and New Jersey, brought along an uncle who was once a car salesman himself. Correspondent Bill Shelton borrowed Correspondent Marvin Zim's Volkswagen as trade-in bait, made the rounds of Chicago car dealers, found Jim Moran's salesroom harder to escape from without...
...compacts were introduced, sales of foreign cars have taken a sharp drop. Says A. C. Robbins, a Beverly Hills Chrysler-Plymouth dealer: "The manufacturers are trying to make a car for every $25 of the market." Some dealers complain that this proliferation confuses not only the customer but the salesman, too. Often compacts with different names are remarkably similar. General Motors' Olds F85 and Buick Special both have the same body shell and almost the same motor; Ford's Falcon and Comet have the same engine; the Chrysler Valiant and Lancer are lookalikes. Many dealers not only battle...
...good salesman scorns such tricks, content to play on customer psychology...
...dashboard?" In the final, crucial moments of the haggle, they will frequently try to win the customer by offering to throw in a side-view mirror or whitewalls without charge. Salesmen find that men make most of the car-buying decisions, but let wives pick color and interior. A salesman knows that he has a man trapped when a wife stands back, looks fondly at a car and gurgles: "Isn't that cute!" To get the customer into the showroom in the first place, dealers often use "bird dogs"-barbers, service-station operators, or friends...
...bang on the doors of tool shops all around these parts," says Smith. "All around-Kokomo, New Castle, Elwood, over in Anderson. I've quoted on 15 jobs. I got two little ones-two weeks' work." Smith also puts in 30 hours a week as a commission salesman for a local food wholesaler, but so far he has sold only one order...